My Week In Pictures!

Let's face it, we all enjoy a little voyeurisme from time to time. I know I do! It's fun to take a peek inside the life of a stranger. I guess It's so intriguing because there are simply no two lives alike. We're all on our own unique path, our unique journey. And eventhough you are comfortable with the seeds you have planted so far, It's still interesting to peek over de fence and see what the neighbors are growing. Most of the time you'll find the confirmation that the flowers you chose were indeed the right pick for you. And sometimes you might get inspired to make a change here or there. But... I'm rambling on again. Let's get down to business! Here's my week in pictures!

Monday - Visiting a fashion expo during my lunchbreak. Here's a gorgeous piece by Jean Paul Gaultier. Love it! Great way to get away from it all. It's just something you need when you make nine hour workdays!

Tuesday -  Meeting a friend for drinks after work. Celebrating the fact that I'm now officially on summerbreak! Yay! It was so incredibly hot that it actually resulted in a some sort of tropical storm later that evening. There was so much water on the road that the car infront of me actually got flooded and broke down! The driver had to push the car out of the water, and needless to say, I decided to make a U-turn and make a run for my money! I wasn't in the mood to canoe my way home!

Wednesday - Enjoying a lovely summer afternoon in our own backyard and taking some pictures of my lovely little model. Look at her sitting on her own like a boss! So proud of her!

Thursday - Going on a shopping trip and buying some lovely items at Primark (Penneys)! This was my first time ever shopping there and I loved it! How cute are those little baby tights? I foresee a lot more shopping trips to Primark in the future! :)

Friday - Eating ice-cream at the local summer fair. The beginning of a well needed night out on the town. Moms gone wild! Haha!

Saturday - Charlotte passed out in her carseat after an (apparently exhausting) afternoon at a friend's barbecue party. And yes, that's a yoga mat on the right. I keep it in my livingroom so that I can see it and feel guilty about not using it. Women are strange like that. Let's eat some more ice-cream!

Sunday - Driving home at sunset after having dinner with friends. Charlotte is asleep is the back of the car, as usual. She's such an easy baby. How I love to live away from the city. I love the scenery out here. A wonderful end to a perfect evening, and a wonderful end to my week in pictures. See you soon!

Kisses!

We Have A Guest!

How exciting! I did a guest post exchange with Michele from the Mommy Blogger Directory this week! Love her website! Read her lovely post below! You can check out my post for The Mommy Blogger Directory here: 

http://www.mommybloggerdirectory.com/content/superhero-mom

Also, BlogHer.com was nice enough to feature me again this week! Yay! Check it out here:

http://www.blogher.com/mommy-uniform

Backyard Jungle Hunt

Summer school vacations last forever it seems. The kids get bored very quickly and you get tired of watching them glued to cartoons or video games.

Why not make a project of your backyard?

First, find and capture the critters and cut down samples of the jungle growth.

• Let the little ones pick different plants (just a little leaf sample should do). When they have a “sample,” put each different plant leaf or stem in a separate plastic baggy. It’s a good idea to get the baggies at the dollarstore. There’s no need for the expensive kind.
• Have the older ones hunt for bugs. They go into a “sample bag” as well.
• Take time to have a picnic lunch. Even if it is in your own backyard, it will feel like a field trip.
• After lunch, have your older children look up each type of plant and insect on the Internet to try to identify them.
• The fourth or sixth-grader, for example, can write a short report on each sample found, gluing the sample on the page of the report.
• Finally, with everyone’s help, make a scrapbook of your expedition. You can all make your own covering pages with cardboard, paint and crayons — anything you can think of to make your scrapbook special.

A little creativity can save money, save on credit card payments and you will all have fun doing it. It’s a safe bet that your children will remember this fun-filled day for a very long time.

www.mommybloggerdirectory.com

Kisses!

Six Months!

So, the tiny one is turning six months tomorrow! I simply can't believe it. On the one hand I can't believe how fast things went. I can't believe she's been with me for half a year! But on the other hand It's getting pretty difficult imagening how life was before her. She's just such a big part of it now. In honor of our six month anniversary I decided to up the cuteness of this blog a little by posting some of my favorite picture from the last couple of months. Besides, I noticed quite a lot of text in my first posts and not a whole lot of baby. I figured this would be a nice change!

Here are the last 3 months in pictures. As you can see we really discovered the headband during this time! Haha!

And here are the first few months of Charlotte's life. Quite bald, but still very cute! :)

Kisses!

I Got Featured!

How exciting! Yesterday I got the news that my first blog post ever was added as a featured member post on Blogher.com! What a warm welcome to the blogger community! A great start and definitely a great motivation to continue what i started! Thank you so much Blogher.com!

Check it out here: I Was Scared of Labor -- Until I Was in Labor!

Kisses!

The Mommy Uniform!

There is one thing all moms eventually succumb to: The Mommy Uniform. We have all seen the generation before us rock the mom jeans and probably convinced ourselfs we would never give in to such a thing. Well we have...or will. And while the stained sweatpants will most likely be the weapon of choice for the stay at home mom, us working mommies have to be a little more discreet about it.

Now something as magical as The Mommy Uniform doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s a process. Let me walk you through it. Once the baby has arrived you will notice a change in your body, which makes your old clothes just not as comfortable as they used to were. You’ll learn that stretchy material is really your best friend. After some unfortunate accidents, you'll also learn that these tiny spit or poo mishaps can be a complete disaster for your more fancy kind of fabrics. So at this point you have learned that stretchy denim and cotton are really your best choice. Well, atleast for now and the first few years to come. 

By the time you are ready to leave the house you’ll notice carrying a baby-filled carseat in one hand and a fully stuffed changing bag in the other one is something that requires quite some balance and steadiness. Slowly, but surely, you’ll start questioning your dedication to your high-heeled shoes. You’ll start searching your closet for an alternative, and chances are you'll find some long lost friends in the back of it. All of a sudden, they really start making sense again! UGGS! Congratulation, you've just finished your first steps towards creating The Mommy Uniform.  

When you’re ready to go back to work, you will have to find something to cover up the accidental spit (and sometimes poo) stains on your t-shirts and find a way to look somewhat representable. You'll need to find a way to quickly dress up or down The Mommy Uniform to make it suitable for your work- and homelife. This is where the jacket comes in. It’s an instant dresser upper and you can hang it near the door and grab it on your way out. You can pretty much have it at a safe distance from your little vomit- and poofactory at all times. Luckily i already owned quite the collection of jackets since they also make a great maternity piece. Now let's visualize!

Here's The Mommy Uniform! As you can see it's just jeans and a t-shirt basically, paired with a scarf and some earrings. I chose a dark-washed chino by Esprit because its just as comfy and versatile as any pair of jeans, but they are just a tad more office friendly than regular ones. I dressed it up a bit with aforementioned jacket (by Vila btw, I absolutely love their jackets!), grey ballerina flats and a grey shoulderbag. Ready for the office!

And this is how you dress it down. I removed the jacket, ballerina's and shoulderbag and replaced them by some comfy Uggs (or birkenstocks if the weather allows it) and a Little Company LTC PopUp changing bag. That's it! Ready to run errands, clean, do laundry and drag a baby around town.

By now you've probably come to realize this all sounds very familiar to you and that yes... you are also guilty of The Mommy Uniform! Don't be embarrased about it, just rock it and make it work for you!

Kisses!

How To Smile Your Way Through Labor!

Let’s start at the very beginning. The moment when I actually became a mom. I had a pretty good birthing experience so feel free to continue reading. It won’t be a traumatizing experience, I promise!

In all honesty, I was pretty scared about giving birth. Of course I rationalized the situation by reminding myself that childbirth is a completly natural thing to do, that we were all born somehow and that my body was designed to give birth. I started reading about hypnobirthing and that definitely helped keeping a positive attitude about it all. I also continued working for as long as i possibly could to avoid sitting at home all day worrying about what was to come. But I just couldn’t seem to shake that little voice in the back of my head screaming “OMG! I’m going to have to push an entire human being out... through my vagina!” Luckily for me Charlotte was born so sudden and quick that I didn’t even have time to worry about that.

I got up that morning to go to the hospital for my 38 week check-up. I briefly considered throwing my hospital bag in the back of my car but I decided not to because I wasn’t showing any signs of labour yet. I figured I didn’t need it. I myself was born 3 weeks late and I was only 37 weeks and 6 days along so I figured it could be a while before I would actually need it.

During my check-up everything went according to plan and everything seemed normal. But my doctor decided to do an internal exam at the end anyway. Just in case. I was so shocked when she told my I was actually already dialated four centimeters and that I wouldn’t be going home that day. I was going to deliver a baby that day! I brought my mom and a good friend along and I could tell they were just as shocked as i was! It was just so unexpected! I tried to call my boyfriend but the reception at the hospital was awful. It took about 4 different phone calls for him to understand what was going on. He rushed to be by my side.

When we got to the delivery room I was hoocked up to a device that would monitor my contractions. Apparently they were already quite present since they were already measured around 60%. I didn’t feel anything. To make sure I had a fast, smooth labour it was decided to break my water and give me some oxytocin. That’s when it started to get less comfortable. In about two hours I went from feeling absolutely nothing to feeling quite painful contractions. I decided to ask for some pain medication but to my disappointment the doctor that needed to approve that was being held up at another birth. I had to wait it out au naturel for an entire hour.  By the time my doctor finally arrived it was already too late for an epidural. I got some pain medication through my IV, but that only lasted for about 3 contractions. After that I was fully dialated and was taken off pain medication. Apparently you can’t be on pain medication during the actual delivery. I didn’t know that! The actual birth didn’t hurt much, it was just really exhausting. I pushed for about 40-50 minutes and I felt like i just ran an entire marathon! Just when i thought i couldn’t push anymore, Charlotte was born!

She was the tiniest little baby i had ever seen. She was only 18 inches tall and just a little over 5 pounds. She made her entrance by peeing all over me within seconds after beeing born. A baby with a sense of humour! Haha! Overall, the experience wasn’t too bad. It was quick, convenient and only painful for a short amount of time. The thing that suprised me the most was that I was never scared. I just gave in to it and went with the flow. And that’s simply the best thing you can do really. Just the tearing and stitching... I wasn’t a big fan of that. But I’d still pick it over spending an afternoon with my mother-in-law any day!

Kisses!